Monkeys Galore!

I had the honor of creating a cake for a high school classmate of mine to help her celebrate her little bundle of joy. Mom to be's mother contacted me and we discussed a three tier cake in a jungle/Sock Monkey and just all out green theme. Now, if you've been following this site for awhile, you'll know that I always love a good monkey theme cake (here, here, and here), so this one was right up my alley!!

I had been informed that mom to be would be using cloth diapers in addition to disposable diapers, so I wanted to include that in the cake. I decided to turn to my trusty friend Etsy to find just the right cloth diaper to include.

Etsy didn't fail me.

Now, being a mother who only used Pampers, I can't say that I knew what I was looking for when it came to cloth diapers, so I wanted to find someone who had knowledge in the area. Thankfully I found someone who had only used cloth diapers on her children, so she knew what worked and what doesn't. Eased my mine that I was providing my client with a top of the line cloth diaper. If you're looking for fun cloth diapers, please consider using Konstant Krafters on Etsy (Konstant Krafters), you won't be disappointed!!

I also turned to Etsy to find something fun to fit in with the Sock Monkey aspect of the cake. I know you can go into any store and find a Sock Monkey, but I wanted to take that a step further.

Probably the cutest little pair of booties I've ever seen!!!! Just like the cloth diaper, these are handmade (which I love since homemade things on a cake just makes it all that more custom and one of a kind) and are just so fun!! I found these in a cute little shop called joeellztoo.

From there, I filled in the rest of the cake with some of my staples as well as other fun, theme fitting items. Obviously the Pampers Newborn Diapers (108 total), Johnson and Johnson products, Gerber soft tip spoons, NUK pacifiers, a cloth diaper burp cloth, Carters socks (2 pairs), a giraffe teething ring, a Sock Monkey "lovey", an animal receiving blanket (used inside the cloth diaper to weigh it down a bit), and a bib- with a monkey on it.

I'm so thrilled with how everything came together, and love that mom to be loved it so much (as well as grandma and aunt to be who I had the pleasure of meeting when I dropped the cake off!!)

Laura, I hope you had an incredible baby shower!! And best of luck in the last few months of your pregnancy!!!

A Whale of a Good Time

We've done a lot of girl cakes, so when I was contacted to do a Nautical themed cake for a little boy, I was extremely excited.

There's not much nautical themed baby items out there right now, so I decided to focus on the colors and throw in a few nautical items. 

This cake includes over 140 Pampers Newborn diapers, 2 NUK pacifiers, Johnson and Johnson products, 4 Gerber soft tip spoons, 2 pairs of socks, 3 washcloths, 1 cloth diaper burp cloth, 1 Sassy ring rattle, 1 Koala baby security blanket and 1 Baby Einstein baby Neptune Rattle. Plus, the super cute whale on top! 

It came out so cute! Hopefully mommy to be enjoyed it, and their newborn son gets lots of snuggle time with his new whale!

A Yankee Mountaineer Duck

This was a first for me. I normally have a single theme to work with, or maybe a theme and a color scheme to work within, but for this cake, mommy-to-be's sister wanted either a New York Yankees cake or a duck cake. See, as we were discussing ideas she said that mommy and daddy to be weren't going with anything too girly for their daughter, so anything too pink/purple/girly just wouldn't do. Enter challenge one. Making a Yankees diaper cake for a little girl, that wasn't too girly, and add in duck elements, and somehow make it all fit.

Head spinning yet?

Just when I started to get my mind around this cake, we added a third theme to the cake. Mommy and daddy to be are WVU fans, so we decided to throw WVU into the cake. But this actually made the cake easier. See, the Yankees colors are blue and white, WVU is blue and yellow, and ducks are yellow. The WVU theme was used to tie together the Yankees and the ducks theme. In my head, it all worked. But there was part of me that was still a little concerned that it would look too busy, so I held my breath and hoped for the best.

To find unique, one of a kind items for this cake, I searched Etsy for ideas and found a ton of stuff, like this custom Yankees onesie

And this super cute duck hat

But the item that is the icing on the cake (pun intended), was the totally custom cake topper. Here was our issue. What do you put on top of a NY Yankee, WVU, duck cake to pull it all together? We thought about just a duck, but thought that might lead it to be more of a duck themed cake with some Yankees and WVU stuff included. After going back and forth for a bit, we decided on a fleece duck made out of Yankees fleece. (Not so) surprisingly, I couldn't find anything like that on the internet. So I reached out to a vendor I had worked with before (on this cake) and we created a completely one of a kind stuffed animal.

Seriously, how cute is he?!! All decked out in New York Yankees fleece and blue and yellow ribbon (WVU). It was perfect!!

So now that you've seen some of the custom aspects of this cake, how about seeing the finished product?

This cake is made out of 110 Pampers Newborn Diapers, 2 NUK pacifiers, 2 onesies, Johnson and Johnson products, 3 Gerber spoons, 1 pair of socks, a handle rattle, 1 Yankees pacifier holder, a pair of WVU shoes, a burp cloth, a Yankees fleece rattle ball, and the duck hat.

Tailgater in Training burp cloth purchased here

The Yankees fleece ball was made by the same person who made the duck. She used the extra fleece from the duck and created a custom rattle. 

The Yankees pacifier clip is another Etsy find. You can find this one and more here. 

Fingers crossed mommy and daddy to be enjoy it!!

Flying High

Late last week we received an inquiring for a quick turn around bike for a new mom and dad. Dad is in the Air Force so we went off of that for the theme of the bike. With such a quick turn around we weren't able to find any Air Force items for the bike, but we did incorporate the colors (blue and yellow) as well as patriotic colors (red, white, and blue). And then, this guy found us

 Seriously, the old school pilot goggles get me every time!!

This bike is made up of 40 size 1 Pampers diapers, 2 cloth diapers, 2 receiving blankets, 6 link toys, 2 bibs, 1 pair of socks and the little cutie pie rider!!

We were thrilled to be able to make this work on such a tight deadline, and hope the new parents are settling in with their new little bundle of joy! Congratulations!

A Little Birdy

An old coworker contacted me (by the way, I miss you at work, come back!!!!) to make a cake for her sister in laws baby shower, using the plates they had purchased for the shower as a jumping off point. Using that plate, I found almost identical ribbon

and it all came together from there!!

This two layer cake includes 116 Pampers Swaddlers Newborn Diapers, 1 bib, 4 Gerber soft tip spoons, 1 headband, 2 super soft wash cloths, 2 NUK pacifiers, 2 pairs of socks, Johnson and Johnson travel size products, 1 Bright Starts License to Drool teething toy, 2 Bright Starts Chill & Teethe teethers and 1 super soft teddy bear.

And now for some close-ups of the details

Don't you just love how the bib is such a close match to the ribbon?!

I'll be back later this weekend with a new motorcycle cake! Stay tuned!!

Speed Racer

For the first time, I was asked if I could do a cake using cloth diapers. It was a new challenge for me since I've never used cloth diapers before, so I was all for it.

We decided instead of a cake, (which would have taken a lot of cloth diapers and I'm still not certain how the layers would have turned out) to do a motorcycle instead. And given the nursery colors and some favorite animals of mommy-to-be, I was off and running!!

This bike consisted of 16 cloth diapers (8 per wheel), 2 receiving blankets, 2 additional cloth diapers (for the headlight), one pair of socks, 5 link toys, 2 bibs, 1 newborn hat, and of course the rider, a monkey!

I've already heard from mommy to be and she loved it!! So that makes me happy!

So congratulations to John and Allison on the upcoming arrival of little Lucas!!

Ready for a ride!

"M" for mommy and daddy's last name

Cool dude!

From above

Close up of the wheels